REDWOOD CITY, Calif. (Court TV) — They say duct tape can fix anything. It might fix Scott Peterson‘s biggest problem: Incarceration.
Peterson was in court Thursday for the seventh time this year in his ongoing bid for a new trial. He’s currently serving life without parole for the 2002 murders of his pregnant wife, Laci, and the couple’s unborn son.
Scott Peterson appears in court via Zoom on April 16, 2024. He is now being represented by the Los Angeles Innocence Project, which is working to exonerate Peterson. (Court TV)
Thursday’s arguments focused on duct tape. Namely, a piece of duct tape that was on Laci’s pants when her body washed ashore along the San Francisco Bay in April 2003.
RELATED | Deadline set in DNA testing of duct tape in Scott Peterson’s case
Peterson appeared at the hearing via Zoom from Mule Creek State Prison, where he’s currently being housed, as the state and defense battled over what lab will test the duct tape and who’ll foot the bill.
Back in May, San Mateo County Superior Court Judge Elizabeth Hill denied the defense’s motion to have DNA testing done on multiple pieces of evidence, delivering a huge blow to Peterson’s quest for a new trial. The 15.5-inch length of duct tape, however, is the one item out of more than a dozen physical pieces of evidence on which the judge granted testing.
Items from the original 2002 murder investigation that the judge refused to allow testing on include a bloody mattress discovered in a burned-out orange van found near the Petersons’ home and a tarp found in the bay. Prosecutors argued that many of those remaining items were previously tested and subsequently ruled out.
Since taking over Peterson’s defense back in January, the Los Angeles Innocence Project has filed a series of motions on his behalf. They maintain that the piece of duct tape contained human DNA which could point to someone other than Peterson. In efforts to clear his name, they’ve filed motions to collect as much evidence as possible in the hopes that they will be successful in their bid for a new trial.
Judge Hill did not make a ruling Thursday regarding the DNA testing lab, but instead will announce her decision on Monday, July 15. Monday’s hearing, under the California Penal Code, is expected to focus on access to discovery materials. This includes evidence regarding a burglary that took place at the house across from the Petersons in Dec. 2002, a missing watch that belonged to Laci, and various documents.
L to R: Laci Peterson, Scott Peterson (FILE)
Laci, 27, was eight months pregnant when she disappeared on Christmas Eve 2002. Her body, and the fetus she was carrying, washed up along San Francisco Bay in April 2003. To this day, Peterson insists he went fishing at Berkeley Marina on Dec. 24, 2002, and that when he returned home, Laci had vanished.
Peterson, now 51, maintains that he is innocent. In 2005, he was sentenced to death, but that punishment was overturned by the California Supreme Court in 2020 when it was revealed that potential jurors at trial were improperly dismissed.
In 2021, Peterson was resentenced to life without parole. In 2022, he was moved off death row. That same year, Peterson’s bid for a new trial was unsuccessful when his defense argued he deserved a new trial based on allegations of juror misconduct.
